


Rises with the Fall

by TechnoSkittles



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Modern AU, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Tumblr Prompt, Yang does have her prosthetic here, and I've been meaning to post it here for forever, this is actually a super old thing I've written
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-28
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-11-07 03:11:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17952545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TechnoSkittles/pseuds/TechnoSkittles
Summary: "I've been offered a job.""Do what you want, Blake. I can't stop you."You're not even trying.





	Rises with the Fall

It wasn't often they had nights like these: sprawled out on a blanket draped across the terrace under the night sky with a bottle of cherry wine settled between them. There was a light spring chill in the air, the last of winter's vices relinquishing hesitantly as the semester rushed to a close and trees sprouted flowers, the soft pink blooming so pure and fresh, a relief from the suffering cold.

Their cheeks mimicked the spring flower, flushed and warm with smiles and laughter as they let loose and relieved stress with drunkenness and each other's company. The bottle half-empty and their glasses full, the night was chilled yet warm. Quiet yet so full of life.

Blake's nails clinked against her glass. "Yang, what's your greatest fear?"

Yang gave a thoughtful hum and her eyes rolled to the sky overhead, taking in the stars against the black night. No, dark blue. So majestic and magical. "Haircuts."

There was a resounding slap and snickering that quickly followed. Blake pouted which only made Yang laugh harder.

"Yang I'm  _serious_."

"What?" Yang laughed. She rose her hand to wipe away a tear from the corner of her eye. "You know me. I don't get scared easy."

"So I'm to assume that you were serenading that spider in the bathroom last week?"

"Actually we were singing a duet until you so rudely came in and killed it."

Blake scoffed and took a sip of her wine, sloshing around the sweet taste of cherry before swallowing. When she finished she turned back to face Yang who had mimicked her and was taking her own sip, although hers was a bit more gratuitous. "So?"

Yang sighed before placing down her glass. "I mean it, Blake. I don't really have any fears." She laid down on her back, arms crossed underneath her head to support it. "I lost both my moms, almost lost my dad to depression, and then…" She pulled her right arm from underneath her head, raising it up high and flexing her fingers for Blake to see the dim light reflect off the metal of the prosthetic. She bit her lip and Yang sighed again before replacing it back underneath her head. "Life's already bit me on the ass on more than one occasion. It's safe to say I've stopped flinching when it does."

It was quiet after that. Blake didn't know how to respond. Yang didn't push her to. It didn't matter in the end for each could enjoy each other's company even in the still silence. Their presence was enough for both of the girls and although the conversation took a turn that derailed the light mood, it hadn't ruined the night.

No, not yet.

"I've been offered a job."

Yang blinked and sat up, a bright smile directed at her roommate. "That's great! So early? We've barely graduated."

Blake gave a noncommittal hum and sipped her wine again, refusing to make eye contact.

"So what's the job?" Yang asked, trying to elicit some sort of response. "Is the pay good? Any chance you could hook me up with a secretary position?" she joked, adding an over-the-top wink for good measure. When Blake still hadn't responded she reached over to poke her arm. "Earth to Blake? Report to Houston."

"It's in France." Blake looked down at her glass, swirling the remaining dregs around in a circle. "Montpellier, to be exact."

Silence took over again and somehow, someway, the stars seemed to lose their shine.

Yang retreated back to her side of the blanket, eyes searching Blake, hoping to catch a glimpse of explanation or reassurance and finding….nothing. Her stare was not met and the million questions she had went unanswered and the tightness in her chest made her shake violently.

"I guess that would complicate our chore system. Way to dump everything on me, you bum."

Blake blinked and turned to finally look at Yang. Her brows were furrowed and she noticed too late the guarded position Yang was in, the way her eyes were cast downwards and her white knuckles to keep her shaking from being visible.

"Is everything a joke to you? Don't you have a serious response for  _anything_?"

Yang's head jerked up and Blake winced at how glossy they looked, wide and frantic for a split second before hardening as a deep frown set on her lips. "Well what do you  _want_  me to say?"

What  _did_  she want her to say? It seemed silly, but she had almost expected Yang to tell her to turn it down and stay. Tell her to get a job in the area so they could continue their lives as they'd planned once they'd graduated, building their savings until they could afford the flat across town, one they'd both been eyeing ever since they'd passed it on one of their weekend excursions.

" _Wouldn't it be nice to live there, Blake? Top floor with a full-view of the city! Imagine the pictures you could take from up there!"_

_"With your sorry income from working as a waitress and mine as the university's part-time librarian? We hardly have a chance of affording to live in that place's dumpster."_

_"Then we'll just have to save up! Once we're both out with real jobs that pay real cash, we'll save up until we can afford the room at the very tippy top!"_

_"As long as you promise not to punch a hole in that apartment wall too -"_

_"Hey!"_

_"- I guess we could try."_

Blake grimaced as she pulled the glass from her lips. It was bitter now.

Yang had apparently given up on trying to get a response from Blake, settling back into her place and looking forward again, a scowl on her lips. "Do what you want, Blake. I can't stop you." She reached over, her hand bypassing her glass to reach for the bottle of wine. Grabbing it by the neck she brought it to her lips, throwing it back as she gulped it down.

Blake watched her do all of this, her shoulders sagged and a heavy weight in her heart.  _You're not even trying._

Yang ripped the bottle from her lips and scoffed and Blake started when she realized she voiced that aloud. She quickly looked away to avoid Yang's burning gaze, instead finding the remaining drops of wine in her glass to be enthralling.

"Is that what you want, Blake? To beg you to stay with me?" Her throat grew hot at the venom in Yang's tone. She regretted ever mentioning it to start with. "To plead and grovel at your feet as they're walking out the door?" The bottle slammed down on the ground, causing Blake to wince, yet Yang kept her vice grip on the neck, her head hung down to hide the oncoming tears.

"What do you want from me, Blake?" she whispered. Her shoulders started to shake and Blake finally looked up from her glass in time to watch as her best friend fell apart, to see the seams coming loose and unravel, reducing her to pieces. "I don't have anything to give you and it's not  _fair_  for you to ask that of me."

"Yang, I…." she trailed off, her apologies lost to her before she had even formed them. Her tongue felt heavy and she watched helplessly as Yang tried to desperately hold herself together, a needle and thread in her shaking fingers, knotted and tangled.

"Why?"

Blake leaned forward, straining to hear Yang whose voice was hardly above a whisper now.

"Why are you telling me this?" she rasped out, finally looking up. Tears pooled in her eyes, lilac glimmering like shells on the ocean's bank, covered by the rippling sunlit waves. "Why do you want to leave, Blake?" Her voice was breaking and Blake felt her heart go with it.

" _Why do I have to lose you too?"_

And with that the dam broke and the first tears spilled over, falling down her face in waves. A steady stream dripped down her cheeks, pooling along her jaw, falling in droplets when they became too heavy with sorrow. Her shaking was uncontrollable now. Blake felt her own tears forming and took a deep breath to bring them back in. She wanted to stay composed because…well  _one_  of them had to. It wouldn't help if they both devolved into bumbling messes of incoherency.

"Because….you might be fearless, Yang, but I'm not." Yang was still crying, but her eyes conveyed that she was listening. Blake looked down, closing her eyes to brace herself before opening them again as she confessed what had been plaguing her for months, no….. _years._

 _"_ I'm afraid of falling." Yang gave her a quizzical look and Blake swallowed before elaborating. "It's that feeling of helplessness, you know? When you're falling you lose all control and the only thing you can do it just…let it happen. You might try and stop it or at least try to soften your fall, but you can't reverse the pull once it's already latched on. So you just…fall and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it except panic the whole way down."

Yang sniffled and shook her head. "Blake what does this-"

"I don't want to fall anymore, Yang. And if I leave maybe….I dunno. Maybe I'll find solid ground again."

Yang frowned. "I'm not following."

And here it was. The moment of truth. The moment that could absolutely break them, shattering everything they'd had to pieces. Blake bit her lip and looked into Yang's eyes, hoping to find some sort of safety net. (Or would she just coming crashing down?)

"I….." Blake shook her head and took a deep breath before trying again. "I think I'm in love with you," she whispered. She let out a shaky breath and rolled her eyes to the sky, trying to avoid crying again. "And… _God_ …I'm so terrified."

Neither of them said anything after that and the silence was  _killing_ her. She wished Yang would say something…say  _anything_. No, not anything but…she didn't even know anymore. What  _did_  she want from Yang? Did she want to be told to leave and run off to France? Or did she - god forbid - actually want to be caught?

She couldn't decide which one was more terrifying.

"I guess…that kind of beats spiders, huh?"

Blake frowned and whipped around. "Yang you can  _not_  be serious right -"

She froze immediately when Yang thrust her arms around her neck and pulled her close. Her face first fell into her chest, causing her to flush deeply before she wriggled herself up to higher ground. Yang's hold on her was unrelenting. Her arms were warm and steadfast.

"Don't leave me."

Blake relaxed in Yang's grip and burrowed her face into her neck. She smelled of perfume and cherries. She smiled.

"Of course not. How else will you pay for the room at the tippy top?"

Blake felt rather than heard Yang's laughter and she was quick to join in. Their joined laughter resounded in the quiet of the night, raising to the heavens above.

The stars shone brighter than ever.

**Author's Note:**

> Like my writing? Check out more @ technoskittles.tumblr.com/tagged/ash-writes


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